Our offense can just kick back and relax because they’ll never have to get on the field.

“Asked what excited him Paterno responded by saying that he is not excited by anything about this team, that they stink and that he is only excited about being alive. Asked his thoughts about being ranked eighth in the coaches poll Paterno wondered aloud what it really meant and indicated that he did not know what they were ranked already.’

Yeah, being alive is cool, and Akron will kick our behinds in.

but I guess since it’s so early, there’s no reason to know. Joe never just flat out admits anything either, so it’s never easy to judge the performance of the team. One of the good things from the transcript was this when asked about the front seven would help the rebuilding secondary:

But obviously you hate, maybe gimmick isn’t the word I want – but you hate to be kind of too cute. You like to be solid at every position. We’ll be close. We’ll be close in the secondary. We’re not that far off.

So I don’t know what to make of that. He spoke very highly of Astorino:

Good student. That’s what kind of football player he is. He knows what is going on. He’s smart. He’ll help everybody. He’ll help everybody. He’s a good player. He’s a tough kid and a smart kid. Wish he were a 4.4-4.3 guy, but he makes up for the fact that he’s not that fast because he anticipates things well. He reads things. He gets a jump on the ball because he’s smart.

His description of Royster and Green both lining up sounds interesting:

Green can be a really good running back. Green has got explosive speed. You know, we would have the ability to play Green at tailback and Royster as a slot back. Royster is a good receiver. He’s an excellent athlete, an all around athlete. I could put Royster over on defensive and he’d be a heck of a defensive back. He was the best lacrosse player in the state of Virginia when came out of high school. That’s pretty good lacrosse. But I think if Green hangs onto the football, we could probably use Royster and Green in there at the same time, but put Royster at slot or put him as a wing or do something with him. But that’s down the line. We don’t have any plans yet.

I’m too lazy to quote the rest of the highlights, but it’s a good read. We still have work to do to get it all together, but while Joe doesn’t usually give much away, there seems to be tones of optimism that this team can come together and be great at a lot of positions this year.

You can read the rest of the transcript of the presser here on GoPSUSports website

Where does Brandon Ware fit in the defensive line picture?
Coach Paterno
Brandon Ware is 20 pounds away from even coming close to being a football player. He’s just too heavy; doesn’t have any stamina. But he could be really good. He could be really good. Quick, strong, but he’s way overweight.

Vintage JVP:

Paterno: Well, to be frank with you, I’ve looked at some Akron pictures. I don’t know what the devil to expect from Syracuse because of the new coach and the whole bit.

I didn’t know Astorino’s dad was an assistant wrestling coach at Edinboro. That’s a pretty good wrestling school.

I can’t believe that at a university like Penn State, and the tutors with the football program, that we don’t have the resources for him, unless he really is pretty severly learning disabled, in which case how did he get the HS grades and SAT scores to enroll?